IDIOLECT

Definition
Idiolect is the distinctive speech of an individual, considered as a linguistic pattern unique
among speakers of his or her language or dialect. The term idiolect, made up of the Greek idio
(personal), and (dia) lect.
Because each of us belongs to different social groups, we each speak a language variety
made up of a combination of features slightly different from those characteristic of any other
speaker of the language. The language variety unique to a single speaker of a language is called
an idiolect. Your idiolect includes the vocabulary appropriate to your various interests and
activities, pronunciations reflective of the region in which you live or have lived, and variable
styles of speaking that shift subtly depending on whom you are addressing (Klammer et al.,
2007).
Examples
As mentioned above, the idiolect can include vocabularies, pronunciations, and styles.
Different people often use different vocabularies to refer to the same thing. For instance,
some people choose the word cool or awesome to describe a great experience. Sheldon Cooper in
the American TV series The Big Bang Theory call his gramdmother Mima (mimau) instead
of grandmother, or grandma.
In pronunciation, some of our lecturers have very distinctive pronounciation. Mr Pius
Lesa would say neauw, instead of just now. Another lecturer pronounce the word method as
method instead of methed. And if you have been taught by Ms. Wesri, you would often hear a
very strong ih sound in the word writing.
In styles, our dear friend Servinus Supar often start a sentence or a whole speech by first
saying the word Well. This is very specific to him. No other students in our class do that. In
another instance, Mr. Budi would often end a sentence by saying eeh (or its variations) to
emphasize.

References

Thomas P. Klammer, Muriel R. Schulz, and Angela Della Volpe. (2007) Analyzing English
Grammar. London: Longman.